Rethinking "Reversion": Okinawa, Japan, and the U.S. Fifty Years Later

PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 6, 2021

May 15, 2022 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the “reversion” of Okinawa to Japan. To commemorate the occasion, the Japan Committee at the Center for East Asian Studies has arranged a series of performances and talks that reflect on the ongoing legacies Okinawa’s remarkable history, including the continuing presence of massive American military bases in what remains Japan’s poorest prefecture, the traumatic memories of the brutal 1945 Battle of Okinawa and the decades of U.S. military occupation that followed, and imperial Japan’s annexation of the islands in 1879. Join us for these events, taking place throughout the 2021-2022 academic year, as we learn about the unique history and cultures of Okinawa, from the traces of the once-independent Ryūkyū Kingdom to today’s fashionable tourist destination that is at the same time a hotbed of popular discontent.

Akemi Johnson
Journalist/Author
Talk Title: Night in the American Village: Women in the Shadow of the U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa
Click here to view the talk on YouTube.
Part of the East Asia by the Book! CEAS Author Talks series

Ichiro Tomiyama (Doshisha University)
Professor of Global Studies
Lecture Title: "The Making of Okinawans: “Reversion” as “L’ensemble des efforts"
Click here to view the lecture on YouTube.
15th Annual Tetsuo Najita Distinguished Lecture

UC Presents - Waves Across Time: Traditional Music and Dance of Okinawa

Let's Do Lunch! Conversation and Demonstration with Okinawan Artists
Click here to view the event on YouTube.

Gerald Figal (Vanderbilt University)
Professor of History and Director, Asian Studies
Lecture Title: "The Business of Photography in Occupied Okinawa"
Part of the CEAS Lecture Series
Click here to view the lecture on YouTube.

Wendy Matsumura (University of California, San Diego)
Associate Professor of History
Lecture Title: "Neocolonialism and Struggle in Okinawa from Wartime Mobilization to Reversion"
Part of the CEAS Lecture Series
Click here to view the lecture on YouTube.